Differently Special
by x.alexness.x
Summary: Bella's always had a bad life, but when she meets a mysterious stranger, things start to look up. Could things finally be getting better for her, or is he as bad for her as he seems to think he is? AU OOC canon pairings
1. Bad Day

**A/N: Okay, so this is the first chapter on my first story. It may be bad, but I like it and hope you do too.**

**Enjoy!**

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**Differently special**

**By .x**

**Chapter 1 – Bad Day**

**BPOV**

_Just make it home. Then you can scream and cry as much as you like._ I advised myself mentally, getting on the crowded train home.

So I held my head high, smiling at the old doorman (who was probably older than my grandfather) whilst making my way to the stairs up to my apartment. The lift was broken again.

I climbed the stairs slowly, to stop myself from collapsing on the long walk to the 13th floor. It would seem unlucky, but it was actually one of the best apartments in the building block.

I opened the door, wondering why I even bothered to lock it in the first place. Sure, I lived around all the bad people, but that means they knew what a dump the place was. Anyone with half a mind ran from the place. But, unfortunately, I had no choice.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I chased it away. I didn't want to deal with unwanted memories on top of my day (which, by the way, was absolutely horrible).

I sat on the sofa, on top of the blanket my grandmother had knitted for me, and curled into a little ball. Then, I relived my bad day.

_I woke up and looked around my living room. I found my phone and turned off the alarm, which was blaring music from some heavy metal radio station. About the only channel it recieved, and the loudest – guaranteed to wake me up._

_Rubbing my eyes, I stood up. I walked to the tiny kitchenette and fixed myself a bowl of cereal. Bland, supermarket brand cornflakes. I was running out of it, and the milk was a bit sour. I'd have to stop by the store soon._

_After eating it quickly, trying not to taste it, I hurriedly got changed into the itchy McDonald's uniform. Then, looking at the clock, I ran out the door, in a hurry to catch my train. I was the only one at the station, and I realised that my train had just left. I sighed and turned around. Looked like I was getting a cab today. No supermarket run tonight._

_When I got to work late, my boss was __**not**__ a happy camper. "I'm really, really sorry, sir. The train came to the station early, and-" He was also not interested in my lies._

"_Bella, that's the third time in one month. You know what that means." I did know, and, from the smirk on his face, he was obviously happy about being able to do this to me._

"_Please, I need this job! Just give me one more chance. Please." I begged. I was unhappy to be stooping to this level, but I did need the job, so I did it without hesitation._

"_Sorry," He said in a tone that indicated he was anything but, "Rules are rules. You can work today and get paid for that, but then you turn in your uniform – washed! - tomorrow."_

_I nodded. "Yes, sir." I would work my absolute best today, and be a total suck-up, and hopefully he would let me stay. I was almost certain that my plan wouldn't work, but there was a chance, and then the possibility that I would get some tips. (Although this was unlikely, it's a fast food restaurant)._

_I worked my butt off for the 2 hours until my shift was over, at 6am. Then I smiled to my boss as I left._

_I ran to catch my train, making it just in time. I then sat next to the old lady who always got this train, who enjoyed telling me stories about her daughter and how I was just like her. It got annoying quickly, but I'd easily choose her over the scary-looking gang who sat next to the only other unoccupied spot._

_I made it home unscathed, then rushed through my door, getting changed into my school clothes, brushed my teeth and hair, grabbed my bag and was out the door again._

_I caught the bus this time, and got to school, in time to meet my 2 best friends, Alice and Rosalie, on the way to our form. "Hey guys."_

"_Hey!" They replied, and each took one of my arms as we walked. That was about the highlight of my day._

_In English, usually my favourite lesson of the day, we had the worst substitute teacher known to our school. He was the strictest, and he found errors in everything anyone could possibly do._

_In spite of this, I tried my hardest to be a model student. He gave detentions out very easily, and I had to go out and find a job tonight. I did well, by him. I didn't get told off, and no detentions. But I found it hard to smile when he told me that my poem was rubbish, and too short. It was a Haiku, it was supposed to be short! But I didn't tell him that, just went back to my desk and wrote a longer one._

_In Science, we were dissecting Pigs' eyes. That was disgusting in itself, but then my partner cut his hand on a scalpel, and it was bleeding loads. I nearly fainted, and we both ended up in the Nurse's office._

_In History, we had a surprise test, and I didn't think that I'd done well at all. I was sure of about five answers, I narrowed about ten down to two answers and guessed from there, and the rest I guessed._

_In PE, which was always a disaster area for me, I bruised myself basically everywhere it was possible to bruise, and got held back for 'not participating enough'. Thankfully, he just made me run around the gym 5 times. I tripped about once per lap, but I hurt myself no further._

_Because of being held back, I made it to the canteen late and there was only soup left. I took that and a roll, and sat down alone (as Alice and Rosalie had already eaten)._

_The afternoon was long and boring, and I walked home with Alice in a mood. I complained about everything to her, and she didn't act annoyed at any time. By the end of my rant, I was feeling much better and hugged Alice, telling her she was an angel. She just laughed and asked if I wanted her to come with me job hunting. This was an offer I declined, because she wouldn't want to know the times I'd offer to work, or the places I'd beg to be employed at._

_Instead of saying this, I told her in a joking tone, "Yeah, right! Daddy's little rich girl job hunting!" Then I laughed as if this amused me no end._

_Thankfully, Alice seemed to pick up more on what I meant then what I said, laughing and agreeing. "Okay, I'll see you later!" she said, then walked off in the direction of her house (back the way we'd come)._

_I was unsuccessful in being accepted anywhere except a new, health-food place which would be gone in a week. After that waste of time, I caught a train back home..._

I moaned to myself, thinking about the loans I'd have to get to pay for everything... then shook my head. No, I had to get a job. There were other towns. I'd look somewhere else next. Any close places would do.

My stomach took this decision as a good enough time to declare that I was hungry. I stood up and looked in my fridge. I could have a slice of bread or some more cereal. I sighed, and closed my fridge. That was stuff for breakfast. I guessed I'd have to go out to eat today.

I smiled then, knowing exactly where I'd go. A cheap place I knew, with delicious food. I checked the clock on the wall, it was 6:00. An hour to get there, eat, then get out again. That was long enough, and it wasn't that crowded at this time... or at any time, really.

With this decision made, I grabbed my purse, counting my money. I then walked out the door, smiling a genuine smile this time, then walked in the moonlight to the little café.


	2. Victorious

**Differently Special**

**By .x**

**Chapter 2 – Victorious**

**BPOV**

I arrived at the café sooner than usual, I was excited to get there. It wasn't usual for me to eat out, but I enjoyed it the times I did.

"Hey," I said to the waitress who seated me, Lucy. She smiled and walked off to take other people's orders, as the little room was filled.

I quickly chose what I wanted to order, as I knew what was good here. Then, I basically just sat there twiddling my thumbs. No matter how good a restaurant is, waiting for food is never fun.

"Ermm, excuse me…" said a male voice from my side. I turned to him, feeling a bit confused as I didn't know him.

"Err, yes? Can I help you?"

"I was just wondering if you would mind if I sat with you, there are no free tables." He asked me, and his accent sounded different, very posh. What was he doing in this cheap place? I'd have thought he'd have been eating in posh places, hotels maybe.

"Sure…" I said, as it wouldn't do any harm. It's not like he could poison my food before I realised, he'd have to be in the kitchen for that.

"Thanks." He said as he sat down across from me. He didn't pick up a menu though, just sat there and looked at me with a smile on his face. _Hellooo, stalker!_ My defence mechanism cried out to me, and that amused me a bit.

"Um, aren't you going to eat?"

He looked a little startled. "Yes, of course. I just know what I'm going to order already, I've been here a lot before." Thank god he seemed to catch on to what I meant.

"Oh, um, okay…" I said, and felt an awkward silence creep up on us.

"My name's Edward, by the way," he said with a charming smile in my direction. I couldn't help but smile back.

"Bella. Nice to meet you." I said and shook his hand over the table.

I was sure we'd have nothing else to talk about, so when Lucy came back I was relieved. We both ordered and she walked away again.

I didn't start a conversation; we'd stretched polite conversation as far as it went and I couldn't talk further.

He seemed to think the same and we both sat in the awkward silence. He handled it better then I did, I was forever twitching and I'm sure I blushed a lot. He just sat there and stared into space – the space right in front of me, it seems.

"Uh…" he said a couple of times, as if he was going to say something, then stopped.

Our food came and I started eating quickly, thankful for the excuse not to talk to him.

He started eating too, only slower then I did, but stopped about halfway in. "You look really familiar to me." He said, and I looked up at him to see if I saw any familiarities in him.

I looked at his hair, a startling bronze colour, and didn't recognise that, then his eyes, a light green colour, and then shook my head. "No, I don't recognise you. You could have met my mother though, we looked a lot alike."

"Maybe…" he replied. "Wait, you said that in the past tense. Is she dead?"

I stared at him a bit, thinking it was a bit forward for people who had just met, but then responded. "Yeah." I then directed my attention back to my food, to tell him this conversation was over.

"I'm sorry." He said softly, and then started eating again. He looked a bit annoyed that there was so much left and I wondered why he had ordered it if he didn't like it.

"Do you like your food?" I asked, in a vaguely polite tone.

"What?" He said, looking startled again. "Yeah, of course I do. I wouldn't have ordered it if I didn't."

"But… you don't look like you do." I persisted, before cursing myself for thinking before speaking.

He looked at me, almost like a hypnotist trying to make someone think their way, "Maybe you're just reading me wrong, Bella. We don't know each other well, it's more than likely." He was trying to convince me too much, but I gave in as it was a stupid thing to persist on about.

I sighed. "Fine, I give in. But I still don't believe you." I said with a bit of a cheeky smile.

He smiled back at me, but it looked kind of strained, like a mother with untameable kids, a look that said 'What the hell have I got myself into with this?' I didn't see his problem, it's not like we were going to see each other after this anyways.

We finished our meals, and almost immediately, Lucy came with the bill. I had the sneaky feeling she'd been watching our table to see if she had a shot with him.

When she got here though, she just came and went almost as quickly as she got to the table, with a blush on her cheeks. I got out my purse to pay my bill, but he stopped my hand on the way and I could feel the blush spreading through my body on its path to my face. He took his hand away quickly then said, "No, I'll pay for you. Just to thank you for putting up with me today."

"No, its fine, I'll pay, I do have the money… and besides, don't worry about it, I have to put up with annoying people all the time. It's my job, basically." _Well, was._ I managed to pull out my purse before he stopped me this time.

"Please?" He asked me with his charming smile again. I realised what he was doing and scowled. I hated it when men treat me as inferior… or any woman for that matter.

"No."

He sighed. "Fine."

I smiled victoriously and started pulling out my money. Just then, Lucy came back to the table with a credit card thing and Edward swiped his card too quickly for me to say anything. I glared at him.

"Sorry, sorry." He said when Lucy had left, but he had a smug smile on his face so I found it hard to believe him.

"It's alright." I said with a sweet smile on my face. "But I'm going to pay you back, so give me your phone number." Some part of me protested against getting his phone number, but it was only because I wanted to pay him back, so I didn't bin it on the way home or anything. I kept it.

He sighed. "I wish you wouldn't, but I can see there's no fighting you, so fine."

I smiled victoriously (again) and got up to leave without saying goodbye. It wasn't much, but to me it was a win.


End file.
